many muses musing - SURPRISE

surprise by jessicavescera

What I love most about Christmas time is you never know what to expect. A surprise makes me even more giddy in the time leading to Christmas day. They are never disappointing. And I love surprising others even more than opening my own surprise gifts. This year it may be the best surprise to finally lay eyes on my soon-to-be-born son.

And as much as I love surprises this is my surprise for you! I am giving away $50 gift certificate from Paper Coterie. In order to enter into this giveaway please link your blog or flickr url in the linky provided below and/or leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. (Max 2 entries per person.)

I am so looking forward to see all your beautiful SURPRISE entries :)

Your creative holiday prompt for tomorrow is: WONDER.

Love,
Suki by Sukiphotographyblog

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what the future has in store for us.

Life is a funny thing. It turns upside down when you least expect it with many possibilities and adventures.
One of these adventures, for me, was Mortal Muses.

It has been so much fun to be part of such a wonderful inspiring community which never failed to amaze me.  You pushed me to get out more, shoot more, become someone during this year I wouldn't have been without you.  Every participant contributing to the pool, every one commenting, just makes me so happy for what we have created here.  A positive community about sharing pictures, inspiring each other and cheering each other on.

As I joined one year ago, I thought Tammy might be crazy to ask me to contribute.  I agreed and here we are after one year that changed us all because we came together, made something as Mortal Muses work so wonderfully. I am so glad I got to know all the muses. You know there is growing more in a year than just the passion. Friendship, kindness and sometimes love. Yes, I totally admit it. I love every muse. Contributor or not.

Slowly we leave the first year and enter the second with many hopes and expectations in the great things there might come. But just as life works I will be devoting my free time after graduating as a pediatric nurse to a new job. Some might say it is even more meaningful than any job in the world.  As you might know from my blog or flickr, I will be expecting my first child in late December.  This is so exciting and adventurous for me.

Although I need to devote myself fully to this new job coming up, I will not be completely gone from everywhere, I promise. You can still find me here and there and if you feel like talking, send me an email. I will be glad to hear from all of you. In life I think many things are changing and maybe some of us need new adventures, new projects, new loves and new inspiration.

Things are changing and so is every one of us all in the world. It will be different, but good. Time to grow, to be made into the person we need to be.

Now onto greater things...
I will be handing my spot as a muse to a new contributor, making room for more inspiration by wonderful Gilly. I am honored to have her take my musing spot because she is such a lovely, inspiring soul and you will all have so much fun with her. It will be a new beginning for me, for us (the muses) and you as our community. Great things will come, I just know it.

It is hard to say goodbye and I leave with tears and a smile, yet I know life will be good, like the pictures below by Austin.Lee.Barron and by sdanddoublee.

Trust by Austin.Lee.Baron

popsicle diptych by sdanddoublee

Much love to everyone,
Suki   xxx

beautiful flare

In Germany getting flare is not very easy. Many, many times I've tried, bent over and did everything imaginable to get it to work. It took me a long time to realize I might not have looked for the right spot to get the flare. After I found it, I thought "Ah, this is what people talk about when they mean flare!"
Trying things out for myself especially in the creative business is very important to me. I have to try until I get it and if you hand me books, I won't read them. That's how I roll.
Nevertheless practice pays a rewarding result in the end.

I love the picture by soupatraveler because it pictures Germany in all it's cliches and for me this is and will be my home.

See you in 9 days,
Love,
Suki of sukiphotographyblog

German Flare by soupatraveler

love letter

Dear Spring,
I awaited you patiently and now that you are here I couldn't be more grateful for all the barbecue times,
the summer nights outside, the sun warming my skin, hanging out with friends and dogs and so much more.
I am grateful for all of this and I couldn't live without you. But dear spring, could you come earlier next time?!
Tolly P. and I are sending you the sun today, to all who are still in dreary weather.

See you in 9 days,

Love,
Suki of sukiphotographyblog

{spring sunset} by Tolly P.

inspired by nature.

This week I looked above and beyond for patterns. I shot a million pictures and yet, no one was hitting me. That feeling where you just know : this is it.
I went out, searching for inspiration in nature. As I walked through the city suburbs I came across a lot of fences but this one was the most beautiful one.
Thanks to the suburbs I created a pattern in my picture, which for me was quite hard to be honest.

The picture by Aimeelmk implements the most perfect combination of nature and patterns to me. She did a very good job on this weeks theme.
Thank you everyone who submitted a picture this week. I really love looking through all the goodness every week.

See you in 9 days,
Love,
Suki

Sunflowers at Sunset by Aimeelmk

vehicles of all kind.

Vehicles come in all forms and shapes. There are romantic ones, traditional ones, expensive ones, extraordinary ones or old ones.

They are all so different in every way, but they serve all one purpose. The purpose of moving us. Bringing us further with every mile. Sometimes every day, on other days we might get stuck in one place and have to find a solution of how to move again. We always find a way to keep going and moving.

In SoapChickAsh's picture I like the sentiment of growing, of development and nevertheless fun.

And yes, I am a sucker for those shoes. They are real cool, in my opinion.

Keep sharing your images. I love seeing each and every one of them.
See you in 9 days!

Love,
Suki

And She's Off! by SoapChickAsh

what windows are for

Across the headlands
The forest masses
Under gray skies
And mist
Into a solid wall
Of muted gray
Through which cars
Glide skirting noiselessly
The rocky edge.
Through a window
I watch, windows are
For watching -
Square pieces of life
Ever changing.
~Windows by Donovan Holtz

I could have not described any better what windows are for than Donovan Holtz did with his beautiful poem. I had a hard time picking a doors&window picture because there were so many beautiful ones. I finally settled for the one below.

Jackie Rueda's picture impressed me, for the stunning light and sentiment of spring and its warmer days to come.

See you in 9 days,

Love,

Suki

cat tail by Jackie Rueda

every phone can take a picture.

To be honest I was not so sure about the assignment this week. I had many possible excuses for not find anything interesting. And yes I had a few moments of self doubt, since the days are back to grey weather again most of the time over here.

Right then as I saw my doggy sitting there so adorably i knew this had to be captured. On a phone. Of course. Because my camera was at home, where it is most of the times these days.

I discovered that my phone has a camera and haven't stopped taking pictures with it since then. Sometimes a moment just has to be captured because it is worth a picture and so fun to look back. It doesn't need a fancy camera to take wonderful pictures. You just need the love for memories, then you are all set.

This picture by vogue and lace expresses that memorability every picture holds for the viewer or photographer. I never knew a  nutella smiley would me that happy! :)

See you next time!

Love,
Suki of sukiphotographyblog

pancake day by vogue and lace

outings

I like shadows for many different reasons. I come across them while being outside, looking for new treasures or long found loves.
Shadows add a something special to each picture, it highlights the surroundings, even on a face.

I love //JUAN TOME//'s picture very much, for it's very many shadowy regions, which makes this picture very interesting too look at.

see you in 9 days,
Love,
Suki of sukiphotographyblog

Into The Light.......Out Of The Dark by //JUAN TOME//

lights nourishes the soul

I have come to realize that every stunning picture needs a certain amount of light. And an open heart.
Still lifes even more.
Although still life gave me a hard time this. I practiced and tried and practiced again, but then I suddenly found the exactly right spot. Light is all I needed.
Often this realization comes not to me until I found it, so for me it is often hard to say what exactly I am looking for. I try until it is found. Like this week, which often gives me a hard time. In the end it is all worth it.

The light in Surprise Pally's picture makes me wonder which kind of people live in that house.
I love it because of the open space in the backround.

See you in 9 days,

Love,
suki of sukiphotographyblog

ah, sunshine. by SurprisePally

candid street scenes

People on the street always fascinate me. I wonder where they are going, what kind of life they have,
if they are happy...
What I really like about street photography is that you'll never know what you are going to shoot before you leave the house. You'll never know which people you might meet. Which light you are going to get...
I like street photography. For it's sense of being candid, raw and pure. The picture just conveys what happens around you and I like to watch the world around me.
The picture of  Pink Scarf  holds for me that unexpectedness, that happens when you just do what you love.

See you in 9 days!

Love,
suki of sukiphotographyblog

When the fog rolls in at sunset by Pink Scarf

sharing the love with... rosina

by rosina w. photography

A Greek philosopher once said, “A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.” To me, a genuine evidence of love is that connection—the connection between two hearts, two souls, no matter how far apart their physical bodies may be. The two hearts are bonded forever, withstanding the test of time.

As a photographer, my goal is to communicate with my clients about that special bond and my passion is to document that kind of relationship between them. I love to witness that hidden connection between people. More importantly, I love to capture that piece of evidence—that evidence of true love.

When I first laid my eyes on this image by Sozo.e , my heart skipped a beat. I probably stared at it for a good minute. I not only saw, but felt that connection between these two boys. That pure joy and happiness from a Daddy and that incredible stare from an innocent newborn. It was so emotional for me--I was ABSOLUTELY in love.

You have to visit tomorrow. Kim will be sharing the love with her muse... Holly.

~with love, Rosina of rosina w. photography

My boys by Sozo.e

nature's texture

Nature's own texture always insist me to look closer. To frame and capture.
Sometimes I look for something different.
A bit of a vintage look, a touch of a painted canvas.  It makes me feel like the pictures I look at everyday are a part of a huge public museum where I am the one who chooses which one goes up on the wall.
Mahoney Photography WA's picture absolutely captures that for me.
It is the not-so-ordinary use of texture, that inspires me in his picture and makes me even want to delve deeper into it.

See you in 9 days,
suki of sukiphotographyblog

Oregon Coast by Mahoney Photography WA

your silhouette

Your Silhouette
by Paul Holmes

Before the final golden rays
Of the glowing orange sun
Cease to dance in lovely ways
Around clouds soft spun,
Your silhouette enchants me
And makes my spirits rise,
I eagerly wait to see
The blue beauty of your eyes.
Anticipation grows
Until, at last the shadows fade
Unveiling beauty as a rose
No longer left in the shade.
Your silhouette gives me
A taste of things to come,
A picture of loveliness set free –
My heart you have truly won.

A silhouette may only be an outline of an person or object but to me it is much more. The shape can express fun, joy or even love. My companion photo by jofabi brings this poem to life for me.

You may read more poetry from this inspired UK poet, Paul Holmes at poemhunter.

suki of suki photography

Jan 15 Cooling It by Jofabi

tongue action and running faces

One of my dogs is an avid face maker, the other one can look grumpy. Yet they are never as hungry or sad as they look. And they totally know people think they are pretty. They use it to their advantage every time. Most of all I like my dogs running faces and tongue actions. I hardly ever capture it, but when I do I need to laugh out loud. They are the funniest clowns on earth.

I admire dogs for their authenticity, their ability to practice pure joy every single day. They never have a bad day and they inspire me to live up to their ideal life of joy, of being open minded and open hearted. They trust. Almost never fear. This happiness I describe is also shown in Rejardin's (aka Becky Sue) picture. And because her dark red beauty reminds me so much of my own.

See you in 9 days!

Love,
Suki of sukiphotography

Stella snow by Rejardin (aka Becky Sue)

and the next theme is... SILHOUETTES

suki photography

Silhouettes are dark (or black) shapes against a bright light source. It is common to use the rising or setting sun for silhouettes. The bright light shadows the subject matter, but you may still need to underexpose your subject a bit.  A silhouette photo of something small or insignificant will often lose its magic so it is preferable to use a substantially sized object.

This technique can be done with any kind of camera. It may take a little trial and error until you perfect it but when you do, you will find silhouettes dramatic and a lot of fun!

Helpful tips to get you started:

1. Meter for the sky, then focus on the object. Voila, there you have a silhouette.
2. If you place the sun directly behind your object, it will have a fun glow around the outlines as seen in the picture above at the dog's fuzzy head.
3. Raise your f-stop to a higher number to achieve a nice depth of field in your picture.

Get your family or furry family members to stand still for you. Bribery is allowed.  I am really looking forward to seeing all the wonderful silhouette pictures in the flickr pool.

Make sure to stop by tomorrow when Tammy will be handing off her muse day to our second Muse's Muse, one of our faithful followers selected to muse on CREATURE FEATURE.

suki of suki photography blog

tammy lee bradley

mono macro

I really kind of developed a love for mono macro shots. 

How can one single colour be so incredible tempting?!

One colour in a picture can make you want to delve deeper, get to know the surroundings

even when only a little bit of it is shown.

They make me want to know the story of the picture.

Just like the featured picture by joy rebel photo below.
It makes me want to dig deeper into it's surroundings.
How about you? Do you like the stories and how they affect a certain framing of a picture?
Let me know in the comments section today.

See you in 9 days.

Love,

Suki by sukiphotographyblog

may god's love be with you by job rebel photo

9 muses musing - SHINY

Choo Choo! by iluv2bauntie

“Sadly this Christmas passes away, so let us give thanks today, as we prepare for the year anew, with faith and hope to see it through.”
Author Unknown

Today I am giving away another gorgeous necklace.
It is a recycled scrabble tile with a birdie on the front. From Vanity Design.

I look forward to seeing your submissions for the prompt: SHINY.

Please link your blog or flickr url in the link provided below.

Your creative holiday prompt for tomorrow is: SHARING.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

♥ suki

9 muses musing - BELLS

silver bells by jan@twoscoopz

“Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.”

Thomas Mann

I am giving away this bracelet today by Mandy Crandell.

It is handcrafted. The word Love written on a small scrap of plastic.

I look forward to seeing your submissions for the prompt: BELLS.

Please link your blog or flickr url in the link provided below.

Your creative holiday prompt for tomorrow is: JOURNEY.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

♥ suki

be free

Winter has it's own special meaning to me. It is like the nature screams, to spread my wings and fly. I always plan what is next in winter for the coming year. And by that, I mean things I need to accomplish. Gratefully, I got everything done what I needed for this year already. And still at the moment I am embracing the last days on 2010 being busy than never before this year.
Winter also means to me the comfort of home. Food, laughter, the burning fireplace at my mum's house, relatives and tight hugs. During winter time we all move closer together, treat each other with more kindness and grace. I want to remember these words this winter. To be kind. To give. And most importantly to embrace who you are.

The picture of Cosi! reminded me of so many fresh baked apple pies I ate at my grandma's house. Or the vanilla topping my mum makes. Memories forever intertwined with pictures who are not even mine.  This is why I love this project here so very much. Thank you for contributing this picture Cosi!

Thank you all so much for always submitting such wonderful pictures every week. This place wouldn't be the same without you.
See you in 9 days!

Love,
Suki of sukiphotographyblog

apple pie dip by Cosi!